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Lunch for Breakfast

When it comes to breakfast trends, pancakes are passé and omelets are out. An increasing number of diners want to eat lunchtime favorites as their first meal of the day.

L’assoin New York City rolled out a brunch pizza when it opened its first location in Little Italy in 2004. The Ouvo Pie comes topped with Mozzarella, crispy pancetta, an egg, and scallions.

“Cracking an egg over a pizza is a classic Neapolitan technique,” says co-owner Greg Barris. “That’s where we got the original idea.”

The concept turned out to be so popular that the restaurant added two further breakfast-centric pizzas to the menu when it opened a second location in the city’s East Village earlier this year.

Now diners can opt for the bagel-inspired Smoked Salmon, which sports lox alongside capers, red onion, cream cheese, Mozzarella, and dill, or the Mégane, which features Brussels sprouts, bacon, Mozzarella, and rosemary.

All three pies are big hits with customers. Barris estimates that 75 percent of brunch diners end up opting for one or more of the breakfast pizzas. “It’s an easy order,” he says. “Most people are coming in with a large group, so they’ll just get one of each with a few breakfast items.”